All the Pain of Yesterday
by EnglishCivilWar
Summary: He looked up at Lance, painfully earnest, and Lance felt the air pull from his lungs. "I don't want to lose any of you. I don't think I'd be able to take it." (Lance makes a promise to Keith. Keith feels emotions.)


**Author's Note: Written for Day 7 of Klance Week (Flowers/Stars). Background: Shiro got taken by the Galra.**

 **Enjoy!**

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It was stupid to worry about Keith.

Lance knew that. He knew that better than anyone, in fact. Keith had made it very clear, on multiple occasions, that he was not in need of any worrying. He could take care of himself, that much was obvious.

But still, Lance worried.

Not about the normal things, really, but about - specific things. Things like Keith's emotional state. His mental state. Things that made him a wild card, things that were known to flip-flop on a day to day basis.

 _It's just for the good of the team,_ Lance told himself. _It's just so that Keith doesn't go and make stupid, reckless decisions,_ he reasoned.

So when he caught Keith slipping away out of the corner of his eye, after Allura finished briefing them on the plan to save Shiro from the Galra, Lance followed purely to see if Keith's temper would get the better of him.

He found Keith in one of the larger rooms, the kind they didn't use for anything. There were lots of those, actually, left over from when throngs of Alteans would gather to plan their attacks. It was lonely being in them now; Lance felt like ghosts were watching him, hiding in the dark shadows.

Keith was sitting by a window when Lance came in, his knees tucked under his chin and his arms wrapped around his shins. The only light came from the stars.

Lance stared at him. Now that he was here, he felt inexplicably nervous. It was strange. He swallowed, unsure of what to do with himself. _Keith doesn't seem to be doing anything dangerous, anything irrational, so really, I should go._ _There's no reason to be here anymore._

But Keith looked so alone, sitting there in his little pool of light. He looked so small.

Lance took a breath and made his way over. "Hey."

Keith jerked at the sudden sound, his shoulders flexing. Lance's eyes tracked the movements of his muscles. "Hey," Keith said softly, not turning around.

Lance frowned. _Something is wrong. Something is definitely wrong._ Normally, Keith would have chewed his head off for startling him like that. Lance bit his lip and came closer, close enough that the little pool of light fell onto his mud encrusted sneakers. "What's going on?" he asked, casually shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Nothing." Keith shrugged, his chin still resting on his knees. He hadn't looked up yet.

Lance waited for him to say something else.

Keith didn't say anything else.

"Um, so-" Lance rocked back and forth on his heels "-is everything good? With you, I mean. I mean, well, you seem, well…" He trailed off. Keith was staring out the window, his eyes lost in space.

Lance swallowed. _I have to do something. I have to say something, snap Keith out of it._ It wasn't good to get lost in the stars. He knew that himself. He knew what it could do to a person's mind if they thought too hard about their situation.

He knew what it did to his own mind.

"Wanna hear a joke?" he asked suddenly, plopping down beside Keith and crossing his legs.

Keith turned to him then, finally, one eyebrow raised. "Um, okay?"

Lance smiled. It wasn't a very _warm_ reception, but it was better than nothing. He thought quickly. "Why did the cookie go to the doctor's?"

Keith looked skeptical. "Why?" he asked slowly.

"Because he felt crummy!"

Keith stared at him. "Uh, okay, well-"

"What do you call a belt with a watch on it?"

"Um." Keith blinked. "What?"

Lance's grin grew. "A _waist_ of time!"

Keith sighed. "Look, Lance, I'd really appreciate it if you would-"

"What did one toilet say to the other toilet?" Lance was determined to get Keith to smile, at least once.

"Lance, I don't want to-"

" _What did one toilet say to the other toilet?"_

Keith pursed his lips together. "What?"

Lance paused for dramatic effect. "You look flushed," he whispered.

There was silence.

Then, Keith started giggling.

 _Oh, my God._ Lance smiled so wide, his cheeks felt numb. "You're laughing," he said.

"No I'm not." Keith slapped a hand over his mouth and ducked his head, but Lance could still see his shoulders trembling.

"You're _laughing."_ Lance leaned closer. "I got you to laugh. I made you laugh. I can't _believe_ it."

"Shut up," Keith said, but it was made weak by the chuckles that escaped. "Shut up, I'm not laughing."

Lance smirked. "Keith, I can literally hear you. Just admit it, you think I'm hilarious."

Keith turned his head to the side. "No, I don't."

"You do."

"I _don't."_

"You _do."_

Keith let out an exasperated noise. "Okay, on very rare occasions, you can be _somewhat_ humorous." He raised his eyebrows, but he was smiling slightly. "Happy now?"

Lance pumped his fist. _Score._ "Yep."

Keith rolled his eyes. After a moment, though, his grin faded, and he went back to staring out the window, his face twisted and his eyes wide and blank.

Sadness rose up in Lance's stomach. _No matter what I do, Keith is still upset._ He sat for a moment, thinking, then took a breath. "Keith, it's okay if you don't want to talk, but, but if you DO want to talk, I can talk, all right? I mean, you can talk to me. If you want to, that is." He pressed his lips together and looked at the floor, feeling his face heat up. He wasn't very good at this, it seemed.

But when he looked up, however, Keith was gazing at him, on the brink of saying something.

Lance blinked, surprised.

Keith blew out a whoosh of air and shoved his legs out in front of him, leaning back on his hands. He opened his mouth, then closed it.

Lance held his breath. He didn't dare move a muscle, for fear of scaring Keith away. ' _Scaring him away'? What is he, a deer? What the hell?_

Keith cleared his throat, and Lance snapped out of his thoughts. "It's just…" Keith began, a troubled look on his face. "It's just, I never had anyone. I never had ANYONE. It was only me." He sucked in a shaky breath. "And, and now I _have_ people and I just, I don't know what to do with that fact. I don't know how to handle it." He looked up at Lance, painfully earnest, and Lance felt the air pull from his lungs. "I don't want to lose any of you. I don't think I'd be able to take it."

 _I don't think I'd be able to take it, either,_ Lance thought, his heart pounding hurt through his body. He ached on Keith's behalf, wanted nothing more than to make him feel better. "You won't lose us," he said, shifting closer. "I promise, we'll get Shiro back. We're all worried about him, you know."

"I know." Keith huffed and turned to Lance fully, his eyes searching Lance's face. "I _know._ But, the thing is, Shiro is like-" He stopped, his chin trembling.

Lance's pulse thudded.

"I never had a brother." Keith dropped his gaze to his hands. "Shiro is….I never had a brother. I never had an older brother. So it's nice being around him."

Lance felt a twist in his stomach. He understood perfectly what Keith meant, and it broke his heart. Without thinking, he reached out and touched Keith's jaw gently, tilted his face up to meet his stare. "I'll save him," he whispered. "I promise you, I'll save him. You'll have your brother back."

Keith's eyes widened in surprise. "Lance, you don't have to-"

"No, I will," Lance continued, feeling his nerves prickle. "And not only that, but, but when this is all over, when we get back to Earth, you can come with me to visit my family."

Keith stared at him. His jaw worked, but no sound came out of his mouth.

"My mom, she makes amazing cookies, you'd love them, and there's a huge garden next door, and there's the beach, and-"

Keith leaned forward suddenly and wrapped his arms around Lance.

Lance felt his heart stop. He was acutely aware of Keith's breath, hot down the back of his neck, and being pressed close, close enough that he could feel Keith's muscles tremble. He'd never been hugged like this. It was strange.

It was good.

It was _nice._

"Thank you," Keith whispered. He tightened his hold.

Lance hesitated, then squeezed back. His face lifted to the window, to the view outside.

The stars shone a little brighter than before.

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 **Author's Note: That's the end of Klance Week! I'm planning on expanding the fic I was going to upload for Free Day, so be on the lookout for that, and maybe later I'll put up the insanely angsty fic I had in mind for the Hero/Villain prompt.**

 **Tumblr: englishcivilwar**


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